Japanese Mandalas: Emanations and Avatars

June 18, 2009–November 29, 2009

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Sackler Wing Galleries for the Arts of Japan

"The introduction of Esoteric Buddhism to Japan from mainland China in the ninth century forever changed the visual landscape of Japanese religion, and of Japanese art as a whole. The rituals of Mikkyō Buddhism, or the "Secret Teachings," as the newly imported doctrine was called, involve a preponderance of arrestingly beautiful and fearsome images that aim to reveal ultimate truths to the initiated. At the core of Mikkyō is the Mandalas of Both Worlds, paired cosmic diagrams of the Diamond World and the Womb World. The installation explores the art of Mikkyō Buddhism from the models used to create these mandalas to the images they inspired. Important early iconographic drawings, paintings, sculpture, and textiles from the Metropolitan's permanent collection are displayed with outstanding works from the Brooklyn Museum, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Burke Foundation, and several North American private collections."

The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation

http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp

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